Intracorporeal delivery of fluids to a patient is a common method for administering treatments for countless medical conditions. The fluids may be delivered intravenously, intraperitoneally, or the like. In addition to their use in hospitals, such heated fluid therapy is commonly administered in the field by first responders such as paramedics and certified members of search and rescue teams. Although intravenous therapy is an ideal method of rapidly delivering fluid medication, hydration or sustenance to a patient, in an outdoors emergency situation where access to medical equipment or external power means is limited, the patient may be dangerously cold and at risk of developing circulatory shock. In this situation, it may be counterproductive and potentially harmful to administer intracorporeal therapy if the source of fluid for delivery is significantly colder than the patient's normal body temperature.
For example, in the case of first responders who first reach a victim of accident or a victim of exposure in a remote environment, any fluids for intravenous therapy carried by the responders to the victim may become cold during the journey to the victim. In these situations where the first responders must travel to reach the victim, immediate intravenous delivery of fluids such as electrolytes, plasma or medication may be critical to the survival of the victim. However, intravenous delivery of cold fluids (i.e. fluids that have become cold or are otherwise unheated) may lower the victim's body temperature and precipitate circulatory shock. In addition, the devices of the present device may aid in raising the core temperature of a person already in shock.
Accordingly, there is a need for a device and a system capable of rapidly heating intracorporeal fluids for delivery to a patient to eliminate the risk of body temperature lowering by administration of therapy due to delivered cold fluids. Ideally, the device and the system should be lightweight, portable, relatively fast to activate and heat, easy to use and not require an external power source. The embodiments disclosed below satisfy these needs.